SCOTLAND’S main parties united yesterday in a desperate bid to get voters to go to the polls to decide who will spend £18.7billion.

That’s the total budget available to Scotland’s 32 local authorities to pay for everything from schools to street lights.

But with the council elections just three weeks away, party activists fear as few as one in four people will vote – despite the poll being billed as the most important ever.

Party insiders have warned of a “sub-30 per cent” turnout on May 3, possibly slumping to 25 per cent.

Feedback from canvassers suggests many Scots are unaware an election is taking place, while most of the rest have not given it a second thought.

Shockingly low turnouts in recent council by-elections have only added to party bosses’ fears that Scotland is heading towards one of its most apathetic polling days ever.

Last December, the SNP won a seat on South Lanarkshire council with just 12 per cent of the electorate bothering to vote.

A month earlier, they held a Glasgow council seat on a 14 per cent turnout.

No one believes May 3 will be that bad but, privately, all the parties admit the campaign has got off to a slow and sleepy start.

One of the main reasons is that these will be the first “stand alone” council elections since 1995.

Since then, local elections have been coupled with parliamentary elections, ensuring a bigger turnout at the polls.

But that tradition was scrapped after confusion led to 140,000 spoiled votes in 2007.

A Labour activist told the Record: “It has been very hard to get a sense of how we or anyone else is doing.

“Many people are not engaging with the local elections so far. Turnout could easily be sub-30 per cent in places.”

An SNP insider said: “This campaign does not feel like it has got going.

“We hope it will get more of a profile in the last couple of weeks before the poll. We are working hard but we just don’t know what voters think.”

Professor John Curtice, ofStrathclyde University, believes turn-out will be around 45 per cent, the figure achieved in the early 1990s.

But he admitted: “Turnout is not going to be fantastic. A majority of people will stay at home.”

Behind the scenes, the parties are frustrated by the apparent lack of interest, given what’s at stake.

They believe May 3 is about much more than who spends the £18.7billion budget – made up of £11billion from central government and £7.7billion of council tax.

With Alex Salmond’s independence referendum pencilled in for the autumn of 2014, the poll is animportant test of political strength.

The SNP have publicly set their sights on victory in Glasgow as a “stepping stone” towards success in the referendum.

Ousting Labour after nearly 40 years in power in Scotland’s biggest city would give the SNP a huge boost.

They are set to launch theirmanifesto for the city today, two days after Labour issued a list of 100 pledges, including an extra five months of free childcare for toddlers.

The SNP are also targeting North Lanarkshire, the only other council where Labour still have an outright majority. And they are confident of taking Aberdeenshire from the Lib Dem-Tory alliance.

Labour, meanwhile, believe they can make gains in Edinburgh, where the trams fiasco has damaged the ruling Lib Dem-SNP coalition.

They also hope to win back Dundee, where the SNP ousted Labour two years ago following a by-election.

And Labour are keen to topple the Tories in Dumfries, where Scotland’s sole Conservative MP, David Mundell, will be heading his party’s campaign.

Other key battlegrounds include SNP-Lib Dem-controlled Aberdeen, where Labour have vowed to scrap the controversial – and costly – Union Street garden design, and Falkirk, where a Labour-led coalition have kept the SNP out of power.

Yesterday, the main parties made a fresh plea for Scots to use their votes.

And they urged those who have not already done so to register to vote by the April 18 deadline.

Scots Labour’s local government spokeswoman Sarah Boyack said: “In three weeks, people will be asked who they want to deliver the schools, the housing, the care and other vital services delivered by our councils.

“With falling budgets, it has never been more important to make the rightdecisions.”

SNP local government minister Derek Mackay said: “Voter turnout for local elections is historically low.

“But local issues are normally high on the agenda – from council housing to bin collections, litter bins to play parks.

“In three weeks’ time, you get to decide who is best placed to deliver for your local communities.”

Tory party insiders predicted turnout dipping below 25 per cent in parts of Glasgow but reaching 45-50 per cent in parts of Edinburgh.

John Lamont, the party’s local election campaign co-ordinator, said: “This election is about electing council candidates to work hard for our communities.”

Andy O’Neill, head of the Electoral Commission’s Scotland office, said: “Make sure you’re registered to vote by April 18. If you’re not, you won’t be able to vote.”

? TO register to vote, visit www.aboutmyvote.co.uk and print off and complete a registration form and return this to your local electoralregistration office.

Taking Glasgow is no mean feat

LABOUR councillor Gordon Matheson is the man who stands between the SNP and one of their biggest political prizes – the city of Glasgow.

The council leader, 45, is fighting a desperate battle to prevent the Nats toppling Labour in a city they have dominated for four decades. He has challenged the leader of the SNP’s group of councillors, Allison Hunter, over her call to make victory in Glasgow a “stepping stone” to independence.

His angry response – “No one steps on Glasgow” – has become his election battle cry.

But that, along with a headline-grabbing manifesto packed with 100 pledges, might not be enough.

Under the proportional voting system, Labour could emerge as the biggest party in the 79-seat council and still lose ifthe SNP come close and forge a coalition with a smaller party to take power.